Cristiano Ronaldo Has High Hopes For Man U

He's sounding more and more like a captain.

Cristiano Ronaldo says Manchester United should be fighting for the Premier League title and anything less than a third-place finish this season would be a failure.

The Portuguese star making those comments to Sky Sports, telling them he did not leave Juventus to become involved in a fight for fourth.

"Manchester United should win the league or be second or third," he told the network.

"I don't see other positions for Manchester United to be honest, I don't see. In my eyes, I don't accept that our mentality be less than to be in the top three in the Premier League.'"

Ronaldo may be trying to gin up his teammates to bring them out of a crisis in the dressing room. Swift Kicks has reported that it's a disaster behind the scenes at Old Trafford, with interim manager Ralf Rangnick struggling to bring his players together amid a toxic environment.

The 36-year-old Ronaldo would have been hoping to challenge for the Premier League title after his sensational return to Man U last summer. But united are currently seventh in the league, 22 points behind leaders Man City, and 11 points behind third place Liverpool.

Throwing his support behind Rangnick Ronaldo told Sky Sports, "Since he arrived... he changed many things. But he needs time to put his ideas across to the players. I believe he's going to do a good job. We know we aren't playing the best but we have many games to improve. Since he arrived I think in some points we're better... It isn't that easy to change the mentality of players and the way they play, the culture, the system like that."

Ronaldo has scored 14 goals in 21 games this season and believes United now have to push on and finish near the top.

"I don't want to be here in a club to fight to be in sixth or seventh or fifth place, I'm here to try to win, to compete. I think we compete but we are not yet at our best level. Long way to improve and I believe if we change our mind, we can achieve big things."

The winning mentality from Ronaldo could bolster fans' calls to have Ronaldo as permanent captain over Harry Maguire. Standards trickle down, and Man U could deal with an improvement in form immediately if they are indeed going to challenge for 3rd place.